British writer-director Chris Morris to attend !f

British director, comedian and DJ Chris Morris will be in İstanbul later this month to present his acclaimed debut feature “Four Lions” as part of the upcoming !f İstanbul International Independent Film Festival, the fest’s organizers announced last week.

Morris’s “Four Lions,” a whip-smart satire about a group of British jihadis, will have a gala screening on Feb. 24 and a special screening on Feb. 26 that will be broadcast simultaneously to theaters in 25 cities across Turkey as well as to Ramallah (Palestine), Gymri (Armenia) and Morocco’s Tangiers as part of the festival’s ambitious digital outreach project, !f Live, the festival said in a written statement. The director will be on hand at both screenings to field questions from viewers in all locations.

“Four Lions,” which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, follows a group of young Muslim men living in Sheffield who have become radicalized and who have decided to become suicide bombers. The film also received two nods -- in the outstanding British film and outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer categories -- from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), which was to announce the 2011 winners at its Sunday evening ceremony. Morris, perhaps best known in Turkey for his role in Channel 4’s “The IT Crowd,” has been the UK’s foremost political satirist since the early ’90s, working on both sides of the camera as an actor, producer, writer, musician and director. His hugely successful and much quoted media satires “The Day Today” and “Brass Eye” captivated audiences and critics alike.

!f İstanbul will be marking its 10th year from Feb. 17-27 in İstanbul, after which it will travel to Ankara for a shorter stint in early March. For the latest information about the festival, check out www.ifistanbul.com.